


one night is enough

by kiraswolf



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: M/M, and they get really close in just one night, au where hal and barry meet when they're teenagers, it happens okay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-08 01:09:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11070891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiraswolf/pseuds/kiraswolf
Summary: idk what this is but have fun reading





	one night is enough

**Author's Note:**

> idk what this is but have fun reading

Hal doesn't make great choices. He doesn't make _good_ choices either. They're just choices, some (like his mother and older brother) may even argue that they're bad.

Some are. Skipping school, going out to drink, getting into petty fights, those are bad. Hal knows that. But flying? Wanting to be a pilot? _Dreaming_ about becoming a pilot? That isn't. That isn't and he wishes, he hopes, he pleads, that one day his mother will understand. He _needs_ her to understand.

But the problem is she doesn't and Jack doesn't either and Hal doesn't want to be around someone who makes it their damn job to make him miserable. It seems that's all Jack knows how to do.

And his mother, god, parents are supposed to be supportive, are they not? They're supposed to encourage their kids, not drag them down, not make them promise at ten years old through a face full of tears that they will not follow their dreams.

Some promises you just _can't_ keep. _He refuses. He was ten._

But he's seventeen now and soon, he'll be able to leave, he'll be free and he'll be able to fly. Actually fly, but in the meanwhile, he has pills for that and alcohol and fists to get his adrenaline going.

He's at a club (fake I.Ds are amazing) and he didn't actually plan on picking a fight with anyone, but some asshole just _had_ to whisper some stupid homophobic comment in his ear so yeah, he clocked the guy pretty damn hard.

Except the guy had friends and Hal may skip math class almost every day but he knows one will not beat three, so he makes a run for it, just not fast enough.

These three guys follow him outside and he gets one of them on the nose but he eventually tires out and gets knocked down. Something he was trying to avoid because he liked having non-fractured ribs.

They don't kick him. They don't get to because this guy, boy, is yelling stop and shields him. The boy gets punched, hard, and falls by Hal's side.

The three guys sneer at them and go back inside as Hal wipes at the blood coming out of his nose.

“You,” is all Hal manages to get out. You saved me. He really thought he was going to take a beating tonight.

“Are you okay?” The boy asks him. The alley's dark and he can't see him clearly, but Hal can see that he actually looks worried about him. That's a first.

“You took a punch for me?” Hal still can't quite believe it. “Why would y—I mean, why?”

“It was just one punch.”

“Yeah, but you didn't have to get punched.”

“They were bullying you. It was three against one, they knew that.” The boy says. “Best case scenario was a couple of fractured ribs.”

Hal finally seems to process the fact that someone actually defended him and offers the boy a lopsided smile, “Thanks.”

The boy, he looks about Hal's age, picks himself off the ground and then helps Hal up and asks, again, “Are you okay?”

Hal is still pretty high on adrenaline so he can't exactly feel the pain that he knows he'll feel later, “Yeah, I'm fine.”

The boy looks down at their hands (Hal's still holding on to him) and they're shaking.

“Are _you_ okay?” Hal asks and he doesn't know whether to let go or not.

“Yes, yeah, it's just—” He cuts himself off and Hal knows that he wants to finish his sentence, but he can't seem to.

“I'm Hal.”

“I'm Barry. It's nice to meet you.”

Hal finally lets go of Barry and smiles at his name.

“That's cute.”

Barry laughs, “It's not so cute when you hear the whole thing,” then he winces. “I don't know why I just told you that.”

“I'll tell you my full name if you tell me yours.”

“Trust me, whatever your full name is, it's not as bad as mine.”

“Well my name's Harold. Typical white British dude name, right?” Hal jokes.

Barry blinks at him, “My name's Bartholomew.”

“Bartholomew.” Hal repeats, “That's—unique.”

“That's a nice way to put it.”

The backdoor opens and they both jump, but it's just one of the workers throwing out the trash and Hal lets out a breath.

“We should get out of here. Those guys will kick our asses if they see that we're still out here.”

Barry nods and follows Hal out of the alley as he says, “You should clean up your cuts and bandage your knuckles. There's a pharmacy two blocks down, I could, I mean only if you want me to—I could go with you.”

Hal doesn't take him up on his offer right away because all the lights around them and above them are hitting Barry's face and god, he's cute. _Really cute._

Hal's breath sort of hitches because Barry has these soft baby blue eyes that remind him of the ocean and the sky and everything else a poet would compare them to.

“Your eyes are beautiful.”

Had Barry been in the club too? How could Hal have missed the opportunity to dance and make out with him?

“Oh, uh, thanks.” Barry's cheeks turn pink, “Yours too.”

“Were you in the club?”

“No, I was just passing by when I saw you.” Barry informs him as he picks up a bike lying at the side of the road.

Hal grins, “Think you can pull my weight for two blocks?”

Barry grins back, “Come on.”

 

* * *

 

As it turns out, the pharmacy is actually three blocks away and Hal absolutely enjoys the way the wind hits his face and pulls his hair back. When he comments on how much he loves the feeling, Barry pedals faster and Hal almost feels like he's flying.

They don't spend much time at the pharmacy. Barry doesn't waste any time and gets a first aid kit, some bandages, cream. It seels like a routine and it makes Hal feel a little concerned, but he doesn't want to push, so he doesn't ask.

Hal convinces Barry to follow him into the liquor store next door where they get some drinks, chips, and a lot of candy. The cashier stares at Hal (it's clear he's been in a fight) and says, “It's getting pretty late, you boys should get home.”

Once they're outside and Barry's slid the bags on to the handle bars, it hits Hal that they don't have anywhere to go.

“Do you want to go to the park? If not, I know this abandoned warehouse. There's a sign that says no trespassing but if you don't read it, you can pretend it's not there. I do.”

Barry seemed uncomfortable with that suggestion so Hal kept going.

“We can go to the plane field, it's like my favorite place, but if you don't want to break any laws, we can go to my house. I'd rather be anywhere else but there, but—”

“We can go to my house. I live near here.”

“Aren't you scared that I might be a serial killer?” Hal taunts as he wiggles his fingers at him.

Barry laughs and shakes his head, “My—guardian—he's a cop, so you're welcome to try, but I wouldn't recommend it.”

“Thanks for the heads up.”

They ride to Barry's house and Hal can't help but notice how tense and stiff Barry's shoulders feel as he holds on to them.

 

* * *

 

Barry turns out to be really good at playing doctor.

He cleans Hal's cuts, washes the blood off his face and hands, and wraps his extremely bruised knuckles with bandages.

Hal tries not to think about how close Barry's face is to his as he leans in to put a bandaid over the cut on his cheek. But he does think about the fact that Barry's eyes flick down to look at his lips a couple times.

So after knowing him for the past hour, Hal concludes that Barry is a really kind person. A really kind and cute person, who Hal really wants to kiss.

“So your guardian,” Hal starts as Barry starts to clean up, “they're not here?”

“He's working a late shift tonight.” Barry replies.

“Oh.”

“Is something wrong?”

“No! No.” Hal exclaims quickly, “Just—thank you for all of this. You're the nicest person I have ever met.”

Barry tries not to smile too wide, “I'm glad I could help.”

There's a long pause.

“Barry?” Hal gets up and Barry turns to look at him.

“Yeah?”

“Can I kiss you?”

Barry just blinks at him.

“I really want to kiss you but I need you to be okay with it.”

Barry doesn't say anything but he nods, slowly.

“Is that a yes?”

He nods again and it's not as hesitant this time.

Hal smiles at him, softly, before cupping his face and leaning in. Barry's lips are chapped, tense, and unsure at first. Hal almost pulls away (he doesn't want Barry to feel uncomfortable), but then Barry's lips melt into Hal's and everything's okay again.

Hal wonders if this is the first time Barry kisses another boy, it's nice to be someone's first. It guarantees that he'll be remembered.

Barry pulls away for air and breathes out, “I, uh,”

His face is flushed and his lips are really pink and Hal wants to kiss him again, amongst other things.

“There's food—left over lasagna. I can warm it up for you if you want some.” Barry says. “I promise it's good. We can watch a movie while we eat, you can pick it out.”

“That's sounds good.”

Hal reluctantly steps back and Barry feels bad because it's not like he doesn't _want_ to kiss him, it's just, it's his first kiss and it's a lot to take in.

Barry has spent so much time trying to push his attraction towards boys away and to have someone else just pull it out like this is overwhelming. Especially when this someone else, this other boy, is attracted to him as well. Attracted enough to initiate a kiss.

“Are you okay?” Hal asks.

Barry realizes he's tracing his lips with his fingers and immediately stops, “Yeah. Yeah I'm fine.”

“Relax, I'm sure I'll love the lasagna.”

Barry appreciates Hal's attempt to try to calm him down.

 

* * *

 

Hal chooses the Disney movie Hercules and Barry is not at all surprised that he knows each song.

When Hercules sings 'I Can Go the Distance', Hal gets really into it and sings along shamelessly claiming that it's “his song” and Barry doesn't doubt it.

When the muses sing 'Zero to Hero', Hal uses his cup of soda as a microphone and accidentally spills some all over his shirt. He keeps going as if his shirt isn't sticking to his skin and tells Barry to join him.

Barry laughs and thinks that if this is what it's like to have a friend, then he really likes having one.

He offers to give Hal a new shirt but Hal refuses to leave the couch until the movie is over and even then, he jumps into a story about constellations and space after the scene with Zeus rearranging the stars to look like Hercules.

Barry listens to everything Hal has to say until Hal finishes.

When he asks Barry what he likes, Barry is stunned because no one's really ever asked him to talk about himself just for the sake of getting to know him.

“I don't know, I'm not really that interesting. I'm just me, you know?”

“Well you're wearing a shirt that says think like a proton and stay positive, so I'm guessing you like science?”

“Yeah, but I don't want to bore you. Your science teacher probably does enough of that already.”

“She would if I actually showed up to class, but you're not my teacher and this isn't school. I want to hear you talk about things you like.” Hal insisted.

Barry excitedly told him about an assignment his class had been doing with samples and microscopes and then about his science fair. There was a small smile on Hal's lips the entire time he talked and Barry really appreciated it.

When he finished, Hal asked him if he had any more 'cool science shirts' like the one he was wearing and if he could borrow one because his was still wet and gross.

Barry led him to his room and gave him one with the periodic table on it.

He doesn't mean to stare when Hal takes his shirt off but he does and Hal grins at him when he notices.

“Sorry.” Barry mumbles as he looks down at his hands instead.

“You can look as much as you want. I don't mind.” Hal replies and Barry's cheeks turn pink.

Barry's thinner than Hal, so his shirt looks tighter on him and Barry is not staring. _He's not._

“So,” Hal starts.

“Why did you kiss me?” Barry blurts out. “I mean why would you want to and how did you know I would say yes?”

There's so many more things Barry wants to ask. Things like 'Do you actually like me as a person and want to be here or do you feel like you owe me because I stopped those guys from hurting you?'

“I didn't know you were going to say yes, I was just hoping you would because you're cute and you're nice. You didn't have to bring me to your house and patch me up and offer me food, but you did.”

“That was my first kiss.” Barry says. “I don't have anything else to compare it to but it was good and I liked it. I just panicked.”

“Barry, it's okay. I understand.” Hal sits down next to him on the bed. “Would you panic if I kissed you again?”

“No, I don't think so.”

So Hal kisses him again and it's better this time because Barry feels more sure of himself and kisses back eagerly.

Hal ends up straddling him and they kiss for a long time until they don't and just lay next to each other as they stare up at the ceiling.

Hal compliments the glow in the dark stars plastered on it and says he has some on his ceiling too.

“You really love stars.” Barry points out. “Do you want to become an astronomer?”

Hal laughs, “My mom probably wishes I would, but no, I want to be a pilot. I love flying, it's amazing Barry, seriously. My dad was a test pilot, he showed me what it felt like to be in the air and it changed my life. I can't remember ever wanting to do anything else since then.”

Barry can almost feel Hal's passion. “I wish I could see your dad's reaction when you finally do become a pilot.”

“I wish I could too.”

"What do you mean?”

“My dad died in a plane crash when I was smaller.” Hal explains.

“I'm—I'm sorry,”

“It's okay. That's why my mom made me promise her that I wouldn't become a pilot, but I signed up for the Air Force anyway. In a couple months I'll be gone.”

“I'm happy for you.” Barry says. “I'm sure you'll do amazing.”

Hal practically beams at him, “Thanks. So what about you? Are you going to be a scientist?”

“Yes, a forensic scientist.”

“Like with the police and stuff? Your guardian must be proud.”

“Yeah, well, he understands why I need to. My mom was murdered and my dad was blamed for it even though I kept telling everyone that he was, is, innocent. No one believed me and I guess it doesn't matter as long as I know the truth but it just makes it harder.” Barry shrugs, “But it's okay—I'll prove his innocence eventually.”

“I believe you.”

“You do?”

Hal nods. “If you know he's innocent then I believe you and I believe you'll find a way to prove it. Besides, you don't look like a liar.”

”You've only known me for a few hours.”

“I'm a good judge of character.”

Barry playfully raises an eyebrow at him, “Is that so?”

Hal gives in after a few seconds, “Okay, no. Not really. But I am this time.”

“Thanks, Hal, for believing me. You're the only one that does.”

“I think that's good enough.”

Barry smiles, “It is.”

“Was your mom a good person?”

“Yes, she was.”

Hal pauses for a moment and then asks, “Will you tell me about her?”

And Barry talks and talks about Nora and what a wonderful person she was until he falls asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> this was in my drafts for such a long time omg. originally it was just supposed to be a 1 chapter fic but I split it in 2 bc it's taking me too long to finish the 2nd part lol so I'll post that another day


End file.
